India’s Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty advanced to the men’s doubles quarterfinals at the BWF World Championships 2026 on Thursday, while Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand also progressed in women’s doubles.
The Indian men’s doubles pair defeated Malaysia’s Junaidi Arif and Yap Roy King in the pre-quarterfinals to move into the last eight at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi.
Treesa and Gayatri continued their impressive run by producing another upset, defeating seventh seeds Rin Iwanaga and Kie Nakanishi of Japan 21-16, 21-12. The unseeded Indians controlled the contest throughout to reach the World Championships quarterfinals for the first time.
Their achievement also marked the first quarterfinal appearance by an Indian women’s doubles pair at the World Championships since Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa reached the last eight in 2015.
Sindhu’s medal hopes end
Two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu’s campaign ended in a dramatic three-game defeat against China’s world No. 3 Wang Zhi Yi. Sindhu lost 11-21, 21-15, 17-21 after a gruelling contest that lasted 85 minutes.
The defeat ended Sindhu’s hopes of winning a sixth World Championships medal. Wang, who battled cramps in both legs during the decider, eventually held her nerve to secure a place in the quarterfinals.
Sindhu had fought back strongly after losing the opening game, taking the second 21-15 and establishing an early advantage in the decider. However, Wang recovered and edged ahead in the closing stages.
Ayush Shetty’s impressive World Championships campaign also came to an end in the pre-quarterfinals. The 21-year-old lost 19-21, 11-21 to Indonesia’s 11th seed Alwi Farhan.
Shetty had stunned defending champion and world No. 1 Shi Yu Qi in the opening round, but could not repeat the performance against Farhan. The defeat was his fifth in eight meetings against the Indonesian.
With Lakshya Sen having exited on Wednesday, India’s men’s singles campaign is now over, while Sindhu’s defeat also ended the country’s women’s singles challenge.
